This invention relates to sound attenuating devices for ears and, more particularly, to a sound attenuating earmuff for a neonatal infant.
When an infant is in the womb, it is protected from potentially damaging ambient noise by the mother's body. More specifically, the mother's body suppresses sound by approximately 15 dB in the mid to high frequency range. Such sound protection is especially important during the last trimester, since auditory neural pathways begin to form at that time.
Unfortunately, some infants are born prematurely and must be maintained in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a hospital. Because of the nature of the NICU, much noise throughout the frequency spectrum is generated from the activity of nurses, phones, bells, alarms, etc. Such noises may adversely affect the infant in many ways. For example, the infant's reactions to the stress burns many calories, thus potentially adversely affecting its growth during a critical phase of its life. The noise may keep the infant from getting much needed sleep, and, if antibiotics are administered to the infant, the noise could promote antibiotic attack on sensory mechanisms in the auditory system. Thus, protecting neonatal infants from harmful sounds which arise in the NICU environment is very desirable. On the other hand, since auditory neural pathways are being formed at that time, it is not desirable to attenuate too much sound, because overly isolating the infant from sound may inhibit neural development.